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Cryptozoology
's 1801 illustration of the colossal octopus.]] Cryptozoology is the study and search for animals which have not been formally described (often called cryptids, mystery beasts, or simply unknown animals), carried out by people termed cryptozoologists. It is frequently regarded as a pseudoscience by the majority of mainstream zoologists and palaentologists. Most cryptozoologists, on the other hand, regard cryptozoology as simply a subdivision of regular zoology - the study of unknown animals is still the study of animals, and thus, zoology. However, cryptozoology is also often considered an interdisciplinary pursuit, given that it also often requires knowledge of ethnology, geography, and linguistics, as well as outdoors skills for field cryptozoologists. There is also debate over what exactly falls into the realm of cryptozoology, and supposedly-supernatural "animals," also called zooform phenomena, are sometimes included in cryptozoology, and are frequently referred to as cryptids. The pursuit of unknown animals was called romantic zoology in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, and was codified by Bernard Heuvelmans in On the Track of Unknown Animals (1955). Heuvelmans and Ivan T. Sanderson both independently coined the term "cryptozoology," which was first used in 1959. Coleman, Loren "Introduction," International Cryptozoology Society Journal: Volume One, 2016 (2016) Research into unknown animals and discoveries of large animals which occurred before the 1950's, particularly in the face of doubt, are retroactively described as cryptozoological. Etymology The first known use of the term in print was not by either Heuvelmans or Sanderson, but by Lucien Blancou, a correspondent of Heuvelmans' who had provided him with much information on Central African cryptids. In his book Géographie Cynégétique du Monde (1959) Blancou described Bernard Heuvelmans as the "master of cryptozoology". The word "cryptid" was first proposed as a general term for unknown animals in a Summer 1983 letter to the ISC Newsletter by John E. Wall. Definitions Eberhart (2002) In the introduction to his work Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology (2002), George Eberhart provides a look at various definitions of cryptozoology, first writing: Although he notes that supernatural and mythical creatures are not always regarded by all cryptozoologists as being cryptids ("true" cryptids sometimes being considered "those animals with a reasonable chance of one day becoming recognized as new species"), he includes them "to show how known animals can pose as cryptids or how people's belief systems and expectations can color their observations of the natural world" - but not as cryptids themselves. In all, he provides the following ten categories for all of the mystery animals featured in Mysterious Creatures: #''"Distribution anomalies, or well-known animals found in locales where they have not previously been found or are thought extinct, such as the Eastern puma." #"''Undescribed, unusual, or outsize variations of known species, such as the blue tiger, horned hare, or giant anaconda" #"Survivals of recently extinct species, such as the ivory-billed woodpecker in the southern United States, thought extinct since the 1960s." #"Survivals of species known only from the fossil record into modern times, such as the roa-roa of New Zealand, which might be a surviving moa." #"Survivals of species known only from the fossil record into historical times but found to have existed later than currently thought, such as the musxok of Noyon Uul." #"Animals not known from the fossil record but related to known species, such as the Andaman wood owl or Beebe's manta." #"Animals not known from the fossil record or bearing a clear relationship to known species, such as Bigfoot and some sea monsters." #"Mythical animals with a zoological basis, such as the golden ram." #"Seemingly paranormal or supernatural entities with some animal-like characteristics, such as black dogs or cannibal giants." #"Known hoaxes or probable misidentifications that sometimes crop up in the literature, such as the Coleman frog and ''Bothrodon pridii." Shuker (2012) On the announcement of the new ''Journal of Cryptozoology, cryptozoologist Karl Shuker recorded the journal's definitions of cryptozoology as a guide for contributors. He noted the number of different definitions that had been put forward over the years, and wrote that, for the purposes of the journal, mythological creatures and zooform phenomena are excluded, and "a cryptid is a creature that is known to the local people sharing its domain (ethnoknown) but unrecognised by scientists. Such a creature may be any of the following:"Shuker, Karl P. N. ShukerNature: WELCOME TO THE JOURNAL OF CRYPTOZOOLOGY - A NEW, PEER-REVIEWED SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL DEVOTED TO MYSTERY ANIMALS. karlshuker.blogspot.com 21 August 2019 #"A species or subspecies apparently unknown to science, including alleged prehistoric survivors (e.g. mokele-mbembe)." #"A species or subspecies presently unknown to science in the living state, but which is known to have existed in historical times and allegedly still persists today (e.g. thylacine)." #"A species or subspecies known to science but allegedly existing as a natural occurrence in a location outside its scientifically-recognised current geographical distribution (e.g. puma in the eastern USA)." #"A species or subspecies known to science but allegedly existing as an artificial occurrence (i.e. due to human intervention) in a location outside its scientifically-recognised geographical distribution (e.g. alien big cats in Britain)." #"An unrecognised non-taxonomic variant of a known species or subspecies (e.g. Fujian blue tiger; prior to its scientific recognition ... the king cheetah, was another example from this category)." Shuker also notes that: Coleman (2016) Another cryptozoological journal, the International Cryptozoology Society Journal, began publication in 2016, and the first issue carried an introductory article by cryptozoologist Loren Coleman in which he gave his his view of cryptozoology, as well as that of Dmitri Bayanov: Notes and references Category:Cryptobiological fields Category:Cryptozoology Category:Cryptozoological terms